The Riddle Legacy
by cruciomysoul
Summary: Voldemort had a child; but he soon regretted this decision. Unable to kill it, he sent it to the care of Albus Dumbledore. His daughter grew up in Hogwarts with her 'father' Severus Snape, eventually meeting Harry Potter and his friends. Review please. /DISCONTINUED FOR NOW.
1. Chapter 1

Tom Marvolo Riddle paced back and forth in his late father's dining room. He was furious. But, then again, he was always angry. Angry because people always talked about him. Every single day, out of fear. How could they not? Afterall, he was the most notorious dark wizard known to this day. The strange thing was, they didn't know they were talking about him. For he was known to them by a different name, you see, and that name was 'Lord Voldemort'. (Or, has he had recently found out, 'He Who Must Not Be Named', since the people were so afraid of him they dared not to speak his name) Very few knew his real name, and even fewer knew that rearranging the letters in 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' spelt out 'I am Lord Voldemort'. But gossip was the least of his problems. In the master bedroom upstairs lay a pureblood witch, who was, much to Tom's disappointment, still alive. In her arms was a child. A baby girl. His daughter. What on _earth_ was he going to do with her? This had been a terrible idea; great in theory, but terrible in reality. Letting out an angry scream, he pointed his wand towards the window. Without even having to say a word, green sparks shot out of the end, shattering the window into a thousand tiny pieces. Glass shards scattered around him, and he, heaving, crunched his way through them and up the stairs. He had figured out how to solve his problem.

One spell and several cries later, Lord Voldemort was sat at the dining room table, writing. His daughter was wrapped up in a soft blanket and lying in a basket on the table front of him, still crying. She hadn't stopped since Voldemort had fired the killing curse Aveda Kadavra at her mother, and his patience was wearing thin. An idea had sprung to the great mind of Tom Riddle. He could give this child away, to the one person he knew would have no choice but to look after it. Albus Dumbledore. He signed the letter simply with 'You Know Who'. At this point, the child let out an even louder scream. Sighing, there was only one thing he knew he could do to shut this infernal thing up. He pulled his wand out of his robe and stood over her, a malicious glint in his eye. Not appreciating human contact, the girl screamed impossibly louder as she was picked up. He pointed the want at her chest and said, "Imperio." A small blue glow emitted from the tip of the wand, her eyes grew wide and the cyring continued. Slowly, Voldemort raised a finger to his lips, whispering: "Shhhh." She fell silent instantly and he placed her back in the basket. He sat down himself, and growled in great annoyance as he thought back to the night he agreed to this idiotic plan.

*Flashback*

_"A child?" He asked, completely taken aback. What kind of nonesense was this woman, whom he thought to be his most trusted adivsor, suggesting? It was preposterous. The woman simply grinned wider and stood up._

_"Precisely that, my lord. Someone to carry on your family. A pureblood son who shall, if you are to ever meet your end, (though I dare not think such a day will ever come), continue your way of ruling." Voldemort thought long and hard. Bellatrix had moved and stood behind, placing her hands on his shoulders. She bent down and started whispering into his ears. "Think about it. You shall be starting a family that will never be forgotten. Just the name of it shall strike fear into the very souls of those unfortunate enough to hear it." Smiling triumphantly, Bellatrix stood upright and backed away, believing she had won him over. Indeed she had._

_"If I had... A child, then he could have, everything. Power. Fame..." Voldemort's voice trailed off as he imagined the future of his ruling as Minister of Magic, a miniature him by his side ready to take his place when the time was right. "Alright, Bellatrix. That is what we shall do. But who is to be the mother?"_

_"W-well, my lord, I would gladly offer myself to b-" She was cut off by a rather annoyed tone,_

_"Don't be stupid, Bella!" He all but shouted at her. "You are of too much importance to be lumbered by this mediocre task. We need someone whose life, shall we say, does not matter." Saddened, Bellatrix merely nodded._

_And so the search for a suitable pureblood witch began, and ended with a 'volunteer' called Cornelia Kensington._

*End flashback*

Picking up the slient child, he closed his eyes and apparated. Since apparation directly into the grounds was impossible, he arrived at the foot of the lake before it, briefly remembering his arrival in his first year as a student there. The full moon hung high, a quiet howling of werewolves could be heard in the far distance. The boats were already assembled in place for the arrival of the new first years on September 1st, which was only a couple of days away. With his cloack around him, Voldemort stepped onto one of the boats and made his way towards the castle. His daughter was still making no sound. Finally on the other side of the lake, he made his way to the castle doors, keeping to the shadows. He saw the light in the north tower flicker, and sped his pace. At the doors, he placed the girl down on the door step.

"Goodbye, child." He whispered, there was no feeling in his voice. Nothing to make seem like he was sad about this decision; no remorse or regret. He took the envelope from under his cloak and placed it on her, before knocking raspily on the door and make a fleeting escape.

Minerva McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, was walking through the great hall on her way towards the headmasters office when the knock on the front door was heard. She pulled out her wand and unlocked the front doors. Still armed, she cautiously looked out the open doors. There was no one there. Muttering about 'idiot nuisances', she turned around and was about to close the door behind her when the crying started. Alarmed, she whirled back around and stood, gawping, at the crying baby on the floor. How had she not noticed the poor little soul before? But, more importantly, what on earth was it doing here? She stooped down and carefully picked the baby up, cradling it in her arms. "Shhh, hush now little girl, you're safe." She cooed. It was then she noticed the enveloped. Picking it up, she turned it over and realised it was addressed to Albus Dumbledore. Confused, she carried both towards his office.

"Sherbert Lemon." McGonagall said the password to the stone gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office, her voice rather peculiar. He moved aside at once, allowing her to enter. Professor Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore was sat at his desk, chewing on, coincidently, a sherbert lemon sweet he had aqcuired from the muggle sweetshop in Dufftown.

"Good evening, Professor McGonagall-" He began, before his eyes spied the child she held. He raised his eyebrows in curiosity as she sat down before him, placing the child on the table. "Would it be terribly rude of me to ask bluntly, but why do you have this child?" His eyes scanned the child, he could make no assumptions to the answer of the question.

"I was hoping you could answer that, Dumbledore. Here," She passed him the note. "She was left just outside the front door with the envelope, it's addressed to you." Albus gingerly took the envelope from her hand and turned it over. The handwriting looked vaguely familiar, yet he couldn't remember where he'd seen it before. He opened it and started reading.

_Dear Albus,_

_ I have made a terrible mistake, and I truly believe you should be the one to fix it. This girl is, much to your unfortunate, my daughter. I can not possibly have her around me! I have far more matters of importance to value than the upbringing of this child. I regret, however, that I can not find it in me to end her life like I did her mothers. Take care of her for me; raise her as your own. I do not believe she will ever be of need to me, but if I am proven wrong and she is, then I undoubtedly shall come and wrench her from your grasp._

_ - You Know Who._

Several emotions ran through his mind as he read the letter - shock, anger, disbelief, resentment, but overall, pity. Pity for both child and father; but aswell joy, as the sender of this letter was right about one thing; Dumbledore could fix this. He could do this one thing right, give this child the love filled life it deserved. Resentment, for how could such a man do something? But the asnwer was quickly found; this man was no man. He had no heart. Just a stone mechanical organ pumping blood around the body. No feelings whatsoever.

"Well?" McGonagall whispered, "What does it say?" Dumledore read the note aloud, thoroughly shocking Minerva.

"Albus!" Minerva McGonnagoll exclaimed after he'd finished, "Surely you can not be agreeing to this?" She was sat rigid, pale as Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, a look of horror upon her face. The only thing stopping her from leaping up slapping some sense into this man was the desk between the two of them.

"This ch-child is a-a threat! To us all! You can not possibly bel-" He cut her off, his voice stern.

"I have made my decision, Minerva. She may be of blood relation to him, but I am sure, that given the right environment with a close watchful eye kept on her, she will develope into a fine young witch indeed." McGonagall nodded; she wasn't completely happy with this, but what choice did she have? She had to put faith in him and his choice.

"Very well. And who are you appointing as the role of parents for this child? I'd imagine you yourself are far too busy for this." A smile spread across Albus Dumbledore's face, a mischevious glint in his eye; just as if he was a young boy again. He knew the perfect father for this child.


	2. Chapter 2

"You are not seriously suggesting that Snape, _Severus _Snape, is the best father for this child?" Professor McGonagall shrieked. Her loud tone awoke the poor child form its slumber, and Madam Pomfrey shot her an annoyed look. They were now sat in the humble staff lounge, discussing the future of the child. Albus nodded gravely.

"Oh but I am, Minerva. If anyone could do with some love right now in this world it would be him, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to earn it."

"Surely, there's someone, anyone, else who could take her in.." She trailed off at Albus' apprehending gaze.

"I would trust Severus with my life, as should you, and as will this child."

"Fine." Minerva sulked, "but I am in no way being held responsible for how this child grows up." She stood up and walked over to where Madam Pomfrey was sat gently rocking the child, feeding her some milk. "Nor am I being the one to tell him." She added quickly.

She looked down into the black eyes of the child. Black as coal, it was hard to distinguish the pupil from the iris. Suddenly, it began to bulge. The black of the iris was lightening, slowly turning into a sickening brown and then finally into a vibrant, sparkling green. Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall looked at each other speechless, before Madam Pomfrey managed to slowly utter some words.

"A-Albus.." She stuttered,

"Yes Poppy?" Minerva answered Albus' reply instead.

"Her eyes! They were black, black as coal, and now they're green!" Minerva McGonagall shrieked. Albus wandered over and peered down at the child, seeing for himself what the hysteria was about. As he did so, the child smiled, and her lips, once pale pink in colour, glowed postbox red as if dipped in paint.

"Well look at that, it appears Voldemort (Minerva winced at the casual use of his name, causing Albus to roll his eyes at her) has sired a metamorphmagus. How extraordinary!" He smiled gleefully and picked up the child, who let out a high pitched giggle. "Minerva, Poppy, why don't you retire to bed? I can watch over her tonight, and I shall alert Professor Snape to his new duties tomorrow morning." The two women nodded and left the room, each going their seperate ways to bed.

Dumbledore awoke the next morning to cries coming from the cot he had conjured up the night before. Gladly, both he and child had slept peacefully all night. The same couldn't be said for Minerva; though. She spent most of the night pacing up and down, either worrying about the child, or Albus, or trying to believe that this was all some crazy dream. Gettin out of bed, Dumbledore raised his wand and said "Wingaurdiam Leviosa" in a barely audible voice. The cot containing the child rose up off of the ground and followed Dumbledore out of his chambers and down to the hospital wing, where he ended the spell and left the child in the care of Madam Pomfrey, heading towards Professor Snape's quarters in the dungeons.

Reaching the door to Severus Snape's office, Dumbledore knocked on the door. There was a clanging of cauldrons before Snape's monotone voice spoke. "Enter." Albus opened the door and greeted Snape.

"Good morning, Severus." He offered a polite smile, which was not exactly returned.

"Headmaster. What brings you down to these parts of the castle so early?" Albus acted as if his intentions of visiting Professor Snape were completely innocent.

"Just checking up on everyone, since the term is so close to starting again!" Albus claimed cheerfully. Unfortunately, Severus was not a man to be easily fooled, and so, Dumbledore found himself explaining the whole situation within mere minutes of being the room with him.

"Absolutely not!" Severus Snape declared, outraged. "I will not, Albus, look after something as fowl of a creation as _that_." Albus tutted;

"I expected more from you Severus. Was it not you, who returned to me after realising your trust in Riddle was mistaken, begging to do whatever it is I shall ask of you for atonement? Was it not you who sworn your loyalty to me, because of your undivine love?"

"Yes, it was I." Snape spoke through pursed lips, furious that Dumbledore had the nerve to bring the previous conversation up.

"Well then, I believe you shall make an excellent father. And a father you will be, you will not mistreat this child in any form. You will give her all the cherishment and love she deserves, just as I'm sure she will return it." Snape groaned inwardly, but looking after the child was the least of his worries.

"But Professor, what if - what if, he found out, the Dark Lord, that I-" Dumbledore tried to interrupt him, but Serverus continued. "That I had his child. He would question my loyalties, and I fear I may be exposed as the double agent that I am." Snape's lip was quivering and he was wringing his hands nervously, anxious to hear Dumbledore's response.

"Well I can tell you only one thing; Severus. Lord Voldemort must never know that you have his daughter. Just like she must never know who is in actual fact, her real father. You must raise her as your own, or she may become so consumed with the idea that her father is a terrible man and believe that she, too, is destined for a life of barbaric actions against her own kind. If she asks of her mother, however, feel free to tell her what you wish. I would suggest something simple, like perhaps that she was a muggle and died during childbirth." Snape nodded, not at all happy about his new status as a parent. "Of course, Minerva and I, along with the rest of the staff, shall be here to offer you a helping hand whenever we can, I shall arrange for her to have furniture moved into the room next to yours. Try to retain her in the dungeons as much as possible, during the school year, though. I'm not exactly sure whether or not she will be fit to join other students, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how her personality developes." Albus noted the obvious look of disdain on Severus' face, and his voice grew stern. "Severus, you know I would not give you this task if I didn't think you could handle it. Personally, I think you are the best candidate out of all the staff to do this job. Cheer up! You should be happy about this. Let's go meet her, shall we?" Dumbledore left the room, grudgingly followed by Snape.

They talked all the way up to the hospital wing about term arrangements, avoiding the subject of the child. They paused outside of the hospital wing and Dumbledore pulled out his wand, silently casting the Muffliato charm. No one around them could hear their conversation anymore, it felt as if they were inside a bubble that nothing but exceptionally powerful magic could penetrate. It was now that Albus Dumbledore dropped what felt like a bomb on the heart of Severus Snape.

"I should warn you forehand that she has her eyes. Lily's eyes, precisely Lily's eyes..." Albus said, a hint of pity in his voice.

"DON'T!" Severus roared. It was a good job the Muffliato spell was working, because Snape's tone alone would have awoken the whole of the castle. Severus gulped, opened the door to the hospital wing and walked over to the child, trying not to look into her eyes. He failed; the temptation to see those eyes once more was too much. Severus Snape felt like his heart was breaking. Like it had been wrenched from his body and was now filling the room with its thumping. Staggering, he caught himself on the cot, breathless. The baby was staring at him with curious green eyes, not knowing what to make of the funny looking man with black hair above her. He sighed and picked her up, cradling her in his arms.

"What will you name her?" Dumbledore asked in a polite manner. Completely caught off gaurd by this question, it took Snape a moment. _I'm supposed to name her, too?_ He thought incrediously. And then he knew exactly what he was going to name her.

"Lily..." He whispered softly, before clearing his throat. "Eizabeth Lillian... Snape." A faint smile spread across the lips of Albus Dumbledore, as if he had known all along what the child's name would be. He turned to leave, but Severus Snape had one last question for him.

"You are tying, aren't you? Still? To keep her and her family safe, I mean..." He trailed off, his voice mingled with hope, regret and fear. Albus nodded solemnly and left Severus with his new child, undoing the Muffliato charm.

The last scene Elizabeth Lillian Snape saw before closing her eyes for a nap was that of her newly devoted father, Severus Snape, looking deep into her eyes with a loving manner.


	3. Chapter 3

Many years had passed since Severus Snape had adopted Elizabeth as his daughter. Ten, to be precise.

Elizabeth and Severus had an excellent father to daughter relationship. He was strict; she obeyed. He gave rules; she followed them - mostly. A lot had happened in the years. For one, Lord Voldemort had met his downfall by the birth of a boy. Elizabeth had developed extraordinary abilities and could perfectly, up to a limit, control her metamorphmic ability. Much to her father's distaste, Elizabeth's favourite appearance was that of electric blue hair and crimson eyes. Occasionally if Severus was feeling rather depressed or angry (mainly due to 'student arrogance' as he widely proclaimed), she would change back to her 'normal appearance', with her hair auburn and her eyes a sparkling green. The eyes were a definite cheer up remedy for him. Her magic excelled, particularly her knowledge and skill of potion-making. Since she was too young to own a wand of her own, she had a habit of sneaking her father's wand out and practicing, often resulting in quite a few backfired spells. The worst accident was quite possibly when she tried to shatter a mirror using _Obliterate_ and it bounced back and almost tore her arm completely off. Even Madam Pomfrey could not fix it, it was that severe. She was rushed straight to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Malardies and Injuries and treated on the ground floor, with her injury being classified as 'Artefact Accidents'. Her father gave her quite a scolding.

She grew up living in the dungeons throughout the academic year, studying potions and reading about different spells and creatures from various text books whilst keeping out of the sight of students. By night she took it upon herself to explore the castle, being so quiet she was rarely detected, other than when Peeves the Poltergeist was flying around. But they had formed a sort of 'friendship' with each other, if that is what you can call a partnership shared by the common goal of creating as much mischief as they could and then watching students get the blame. She probably would never forget her first encounter with him;

_*flashback*_

_She was six years old, nearing seven. Elizabeth rounded the corner on the fifth floor, keeping an ear out for the sound of Mrs. Norris' soft paws. She'd grown accustomed to having to strain her ears, since that cat had no jingle bell on her collar so was almost impossible to detect before it was too late. The lights were out now, so she pulled out Severus' wand and muttered Lumos; one of the few spells that worked without backfiring. A silver orb glowed at the tip of the wand, just bright enough for her to see the path ahead and that surrounding her. There was a loud creaking noise behind. Startled, believing herself to be busted, she whirled around and to her confusion there was nothing there. Shrugging it off as part of her imagination, she carried on walking. Not really going anywhere specific, just wandering. The creaking sounded once again. Still there was nothing behind. There was, however, something above. Gasping, Elizabeth looked up to see the huge glass chandelier swaying on broken chains. The last chain holding it up was slowly being unhinged by something she couldn't see. "Oh Dear Salaza-" she exclaimed as the chain gave way and came crashing down all around her. Running, she attempted to shield her head with her arms as the glass smashed, scratching on her skin as gravity pulled it down. Shaking the shards from her hair, she pointed the wand towards the broken glass and looked. Walking closer she picked up one of the chains and realized that it had been cut, not accidently worn away. There was an evil cackling from above and whooshes as something zoomed around her. "Who's there?" She called out, looking around wildly. "I'm not afraid to hurt you!" The laughing stopped and a taunting filled the corridor._

_"Oooooohhh, the lickle first year with the blue hair is threatening to hurt me!"_

_"I'm not a first year!" Elizabeth called out indigently to the invisible phantom. Even though there was but silence she doubted he had gone. "Now - reveal yourself!" Elizabeth commanded, looking and sounding stern much like her father._

_"Why should I?" The voice replied lazily._

_"Because i-if you don't," Elizabeth's voice quivered, "I shall tell my father of this!" She cried. There was more laughter now._

_"My dear girl, unless your father has some kind of influence here at Hogwarts, it won't do any good." The phantom once again began to whiz up and down the corridor and all around Elizabeth._

_"Oh but he does." She muttered darkly in response, causing the whizzing to stop. "He teaches here. Potions. His name is Severus, Severus Snape." Nothing happened. Sighing Elizabeth turned and began walking off. She'd have to find a way to explain this to her father later._

_"Hold on, Miss Snape!" A much friendlier voice called out. Zooming down the corridor came a ghost-like creature who was both short and squat. He stopped short of her feet and bowed. "Peeves the Poltergeist. Pleasure to meet you." He said proudly. Elizabeth couldn't help but smile, however there was no trace of happiness in her voice._

_"Elizabeth." She said curtly. There was a pause before Elizabeth begain screeching. "NOW WHY DID YOU TRY TO KILL ME?"_

_"Shhh"" Peeves hushed her. "Keep your voice down Eliza!" He hissed._

_"Eliza__beth__." She corrected him._

_"Whatever! But if you do not wish to get caught, keep your voice down!" Too late. They could hear running footsteps, panting and the clanking of metal as Argus Filch, caretaker of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, came hurrying down the corridor with a lantern. "Hide!" Elizabeth obeyed and hid behind a nearby suit of armour, her heartbeart racing._

_She could hear the footsteps skid to a halt._

_"Peeves." A breathless voice croaked out, "Who were you talking to? What student? Which way did they go?" Peeves let out a huffing breathe._

_"Hummmm. I don't know. I'm just a ghost." He began to whiz around, opening and shutting all the cupboard doors._

_"Tell me who it was right now or I shall get the Bloody Baron!" The whizzing stopped and Elizabeth found herself biting down hard on her lip and silently praying he wouldn't give her away._

_"A Hufflepuff. They went that way! Go get the nasty scum, Argus!" Peeves was pointing in the direction of Elizabeth, so naturally, Argus felt obliged to go the other way. Peeves cackled as he ran off, Elizabeth let out a long breathe she didn't even know she was holding and stepped out from behind the empty knight's case._

_"Thanks," she said coolly. She paused; "Who's the Bloody Baron?" She asked, rasing her eyebrow at him._

_"No one you need to worry about," Peeves replied hastily, ushering her down the corridor. "I think it's time you got back to your room."_

_"Er, yeah. Good-goodnight Peeves." Elizabeth nodded and headed back to the dungeons._

_*end flashback*_

Albus Dumbledore often visited them both, bearing the occassional gift for Elizabeth. Her favourite by far was the toy broomstick he bought her for her 4th birthday; she still keeps it in her room. He became a sort of uncle to her, exactly like the one in the family that you wish was your father as they're a lot more fun to be around, but not as responsible, yet he had the essence of a wise old grandfather owl. One night, he even brought her a phoenix!

_Elizabeth was sat in the corner of Severus Snape's office reading up on Divination, a subject she had great interest in. This book, 'Unfogging the Future - Volume V' written by Cassandra Vablatsky, gave her a basic insight of how the witches and wizards who weren't born with a natural seeing gift, (know was 'Seers'), learnt to predict events that may or may not happen in the future, by means of tea leaves, crystal balls, palmistry and other methods. She wa just starting chapter 17 when there was a knock upon the office door and Severus Snape's monotonous voice called out "Come in." She looked up as she heard the door squeak on its hinges, her face lighting up in an immediate smile once she recognised the long grey hair._

_"Dumbledore!" She squealed, launching up and rushing to give him a hug. Dumbledore chuckled softly, holding out a strand of her hair._

_"I see you've gone rather blonde this morning, Elizabeth." She left go of his waist and went and sat back down in the corner, continuing to read. Severus put his quill down and stood up, crossing his arms over his chest._

_"Proffessor, to what pleasure do we owe this visit?" He asked cautiously, swiftly glancing at Elizabeth._

_"A gift I bring!" Albus exclaimed. He looked directly at Elizabeth and she noticed he had the shadow of a joyful young man in his eyes. "Elizabeth, dear, why don't you put the book down and come stand here." He gestured to the space next to him with his wand, also conjuring up a blindfold. As Elizabeth went and stood in her place the blindfold tied itself around her eyes, turning her vision nothing but black. "Keep your eyes closed now!" Albus teased, "Put your hands out." Elizabeth did so and gasped as something cold and heavy was placed in her hands. "Don't squeeze it, you might crush it. What do you think it is?" Holding the curious object, Elizabeth began running her fingers around it. It was about the size of an easter egg and was extremely smooth even though it had the texture of rough chalk._

_"Oh.." Elizabeth exhaled. "It feels like an egg, but why on earth would you be giving me an egg?" The blindfold disappeared so Elizabeth looked down to see what the object was, and it was in fact an egg! She looked curiously at Dumbledore, not quite sure how to respond. he looked amused by her expression and tapped the egg with his wand, creating a small crack. The crack began to grow in size and eventually the top half crumbled to the ground, leaving a hole revealing a small featherless bird apparently squinting in the sudden light. She was pretty shocked. The rest of the egg cracked and fell to the ground until only the bird remained in her hands._

_"You remember my phoenix, Fawkes?" Elizabeth simply nodded, she was still too stunned to speak. "Well, once -and only once- in their existence, they are eligible to breed. I awoke this morning to find the egg on the pillow beside me."_

_Elizabeth frowned; as lovely as this gift was, she couldn't help but think it wasn't right to take away one's child. "But- but won't Fawkes miss her egg? Or be angry that you have taken it away?" She looked up at him, worried._

_"Oh, not at all. You see, phoenixes are not like us. They are not naturally mothers, which is why their existance is so rare. They don't have the instincts to care for their young, and if I had not removed the egg this morning, by now it would be sitting in Fawke's stomach serving as dinner. (Albus was looking at Severus while he said this, as if to remind him of their deal.) They take little care aswell, and are such loyal creatures once you have them tamed, even remembering who you are after they're reborn." He stroked his fingers down the birds beak an smiled. "I should be off, important business to attend to! Goodbye Elizabeth. Oh and Severus, be at the staff lounge tomorrow morning to discuss the new school year, don't be late!" After he had shut the door, Severus cleared his throat._

_"Dad..? Can I keep him? Please?" Elizabeth pleaded, mostly because it would be rude to not accept the gift, and she really wanted a pet, something her father had been denying her ever since she could talk. Severus glared at the bird, at the door, and then at Elizabeth. She bit her lip, attempting to hide her fears. He nodded slightly and Elizabeth grinned madly. "Thankyou!" She exclaimed, excited._

Elizabeth named the phoenix Inferno, after the bright colours it's feathers shone. Inferno did the job of being Elizabeth's owl as well as beloved pet/best friend.


End file.
